The Massacre of Children in Peshawar

What words can be written to express the horror that unfolded in a school in Peshawar today? Most of the children killed and deliberately targeted in this massacre, were between the ages of 10 and 16 years old. Stories of children pretending to be dead to save their lives, stuffing ties in their mouth to avoid screaming, bullets whizzing past young heads and other unimaginable tales will no doubt emerge over the next day or two. Teachers were brutally killed while heroically trying to protect their pupils; it was reported one female teacher was doused in gasoline, set alight and burned to death. The attackers forced children to watch.

This is the same Taliban that seek to establish Islamic Law in Pakistan or their perverted and contradictory interpretation of it. This is not my Islam nor the Islam of millions of decent Pakistanis. The Taliban pretendthey are lions, heroes, hoping to recruit young Pakistani men to their violent unIslamic cause. But today they have proven what they really stand for. Cowards who butcher children. As a British Pakistani myself, I feel utter revulsion for these men who clearly have shown their enmity towards the Pakistani people. Today they declared their abhorrence of Pakistan’s children and I hope and pray that today marks the beginning of the end of the Taliban. Pakistanis right across the world, we must make a stand against these extremists who care little for life and who believe children’s blood is cheap.

As I type this, news is emerging that 25 people including 15 primary schoolgirls in a school bus have been killed by jihadists AQAP (Al-Qaeda Arabia Peninsula); an organisation who through their distorted religious ideology justify violating every Islamic principle. When will this ugly madness end?

As is recognised in Islamic tradition, these slain children are residing in the gardens of Paradise. We at Inspire offer our heartfelt prayers to the families of all those affected. But today, now more than ever, we must do all we can to prevent other children from being killed. We must make a stand for them. These extremists wreak destruction and death in the name of our faith. As Muslims, we have a moral obligation to oppose their violence and brutality. This is precisely why we launched #makingastand. The consequences of inaction or refusal to challenge religiously inspired extremism is too heavy a price to bear.